[#1] Share with us a snippet of your story.
Hello! I’m Courtney Lott and I am from Atlanta, Georgia. I am a daughter of the King, married to my best friend, and mommy to my 7 littles: Mina 10, Aidan 8, Michael 8, Aniya 5, Carson 5, Emmy 3 and Collier 2. I am passionate about adoption and orphan care; I own an adoption consulting firm, Faithful Adoption Consultants. I am an advocate for Sickle Cell Disease, Epilepsy and most recently,Down Sydrome. We are incredibly blessed and not one bit of this life was part of my plan. Aren’t God’s plans so much better?
The most important part of my story began when I met my husband and we started our life together. Emory and I were married in 2003 with different plans for our family size. He wanted one child and I wanted 4. One year and 8 days after we were married I gave birth to our first son, Aidan. Emory was content, in his mind our family was complete. God had other plans, BIGGER plans.
Over the next 7 years the Lord would add to our family 5 times through adoption, both privately and through foster care, and also add one more biologically. We adopted out of birth order and acquired our 7 children in a span of 7 years….never a dull minute around here.
In 2008, Emory and I started Faithful Adoption Consultants. We walk adoptive parents through the domestic adoption journey from beginning to end. Our clients contract us to walk them through each step of the process, we educate and advocate, as well as help them bring home their bundle of joy much faster than your average domestic adoption agency. Through FAC, God has brought Emory and I some of our dearest, most treasured friends.
In addition to running a business and chasing these 7 littles around, several of our kiddos have special needs.
Aidan (our oldest son) is epileptic and as of now, is not well controlled, which means he is on a lot of medicine, and has lots of doctors appointments to regularly check his medication levels, lab work, MRI’s, EEG’s etc.
Emmy, our 3 year old, was born with Sickle Cell Disease. Emmy has the worst type, she received the S gene from both parents, resulting in SS Sickle Cell Disease. Emmy has had 50 + admissions, and recently almost lost her life to sickle cell complications this past March. In 2011, I founded Emmy’s Got Style, which is an organization that makes and donates stylish, functional hospital gowns to chronically and terminally ill children. We also use EGS as a platform to raise awareness about Sickle Cell Anemia. (We are reconstructing our website, but you can check us out on FB – www.facebook.com/emmysgotstyle
Aniya, our newest addition is 5 years old and she has Down Syndrome. We have only had Aniya for a few months, so we are still learning and trying to decide where the best place for us to advocate for Down Syndrome might be. For now, we are spending our time figuring out our new normal as a family of 9.
Each day is an adventure around here….and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
[#2] What is your favorite part of the day with your little one[s]?
I have so many sweet moments throughout the day with each of my littles, but collectively, I would have to say dinner time.
We make it a point to eat dinner together every night, whether at our own table or at a restaurant. I love this time. It is the sweetest time of our kids opening up about their day, about how they feel and what they look forward to.
Each night we do hi/lo’s at dinner….each person goes around the table and tells us their day’s high and low. I love this. It gives us the opportunity to pour into each one of them about the highest and lowest moments of their day, and talk collectively as a family about the important things.
[#3] Name Three Instagram MOMS who inspire you.
Oh, geez, there are so many. I don’t know that I can only name 3, but I will try. I am going to go with moms that share my passion for orphan care, large families, foster care and adoption.
@letlovegrow – This momma of 9 (6 bio and 3 adopted) shares my passion for orphans, has a huge family and still seems to look sane….that is inspirational in my book. I love her heart, the way she advocates for the least of these, and her fierce love for family.
@itsjustemmy – This sweet momma has 3 kiddos (their third was just born this past week – and is their 2nd daughter by the miracle of adoption) is a constant source of encouragement to me and to so many others in our IG adoption community. Blessed to call her friend. She, too, is a lover of Jesus, her family, orphan care and constantly finding new ways to give and bless others.
@K8CL8N – also owner of @TheAdoptShoppe – This sweet momma has 4 kiddos (2 bio and 2 by adoption) and owns The Adopt Shoppe…..she may be one of the most generous people I have ever “met”. She is constantly finding new ways to bless others with her amazing talent of creating beautiful jewelry. I adore her heart for Jesus, her family and for orphans.
[#4] What challenges have you faced in balancing motherhood and your passion for creativity?
This is a hard one. I am going to change the question just a bit, as I am not creative at all, motherhood hasn’t hindered that, God made me that way. I think for me the question would be more of what challenges do I face in motherhood and balancing the owning and running of a business?
Boundaries. The hardest part is setting boundaries between work and personal.
Adoption is such an emotional journey, so I naturally become emotionally involved with my clients, which can be difficult to turn off the work side of me during my “off” hours.
In recent months, I have really put boundaries in place with clients, which has helped balance my time with my family vs. working. Due to the nature of the job, I don’t have typical business hours, which allows me the flexibility to be wherever I need to be with my kids, and since I can work from anywhere (as long as I have a computer and a phone) I am still readily available to my clients when I need to be.
Running a business and having a family is definitely a balancing act, but I am thankful for the opportunity to have both.
[#5] What is a family tradition that you love sharing with your kids?
7 years ago we started the tradition of surprising the kiddos with an “UNbirthday Party” several times a year. They have no idea when it is coming, and they are thrilled every time we do it. What I love is that it’s as simple as buying a birthday cake and bringing it home when it’s nobody’s birthday….they love it. I really hope that it will be one of those memories and traditions for the kids that they take with them when they have children themselves. I love seeing the joy on our kid’s faces when they realize that it is an Unbirthday Party night…..makes my heart smile every. single. time..
[#6] If you could give us a peek inside your home - what image would you share and why?
I would probably choose first thing in the morning, when everyone is waking up and getting ready for their day. My awesome hubby wakes up for the 5 oldest in the mornings and gets them started while I snooze for an extra 30 minutes, so when I come down and he is getting ready to leave, I start my day by seeing all the kids helping one another with breakfast, backpacks, helping with lunches and finding missing shoes….it’s a sweet moment for a momma’s heart to see her kids helping each other joyfully in the morning.
[#7] Share a photo you wouldn't typically post on Instagram but depicts real life happenings.
It would be probably be this:
This is the hardest part of my day, the reality of parenting 7 small children. This is after school, with 5 kids doing homework, eating snacks, making messes and 2 littles buzzing around their siblings trying to get their attention….you’ll see 3 BIG dogs walking around in all the chaos, and probably find me multi-tasking between making dinner, helping with homework and taking client calls all at once. It is the hardest part of my day, it is our daily routine, it is also one of my favorite times, despite the difficulty of it, because we are all back under one roof together, and I love having them all in one room.
Be sure and follow @thelottofus on Instagram! You can also keep up with the series by following @kelliandvanessa or #myeverydaymoms
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